Get computers fixed for fire dispatching

Bay County Executive Thomas
Hickner says the computer
company that installed a new
system for 911 Central Dispatch in
1998 "has made a very strong and
firm commitment to deal with"
bum information the fire
departments are getting.

We certainly expect the problems
will be corrected in that period of
30 to 60 days. They've been known
about for quite a while, at least
since late fall. Fire departments
have been getting incorrect
locations of the nearest water
hydrants and information about
specific buildings that bear on how
a blaze should be fought. The
problems were being fixed, The
Times was told in late November.
Yet problems remain, as articles in
Sunday's Times point out. Fire
chiefs are getting discouraged. We
expect some county officials are
just as frustrated.

Some bugs and glitches with the
New World computer programs
have been ongoing since
installation in 1998 at a cost of
more than $360,000. The
firefighting information problems
were apparent late last year.
Squabbling between county
officials and fire chiefs, as we
pointed in a Nov. 28 editorial,
serves no good purpose. It only
shakes public confidence.

Fire runs are only about one-fourth
of the calls out of 911 Central
Dispatch.

We're not yet ready to suggest
tossing out New World's system.
The system is problem-plagued for
one-fourth of the calls, those to
firefighters, but not for the other
three-quarters of the calls, to police
departments or for
recording-keeping functions.

It seems all the people involved -
townships and cities and the
county - still are not willing to stop
looking for everybody else's past
sins. They need to, and now. When
it comes to solving the problem, it
makes no difference exactly when
the county's top 911 Central
Dispatch administrator knew of
printout problems, in February or
last fall.

The county managed to get through
the winter months without a fiery
disaster. Part of the reason has
been just old-fashioned good luck
and part dispatchers and fire
departments working around the
computer problems. The county
paid for better service than that
from New World. In fact, the
county has expressed its
dissatisfaction with the lack of
progress; it is withholding $33,000
from New World from last year's
services.

Dispatchers, firefighters and the
public that relies on emergency
services in potential life-and-death
situations don't want to push their
luck any longer. They should not
have to in another 30 to 60 days.
Hickner said New World indicated
last week that it plans to change its
supervisor for the Bay County
system and to have the bugs out by
then.

Working together, without
cynicism or sniping, maybe this
time the fire chiefs, county officials
and New World troubleshooters
can get it all fixed within the
self-imposed deadline.